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What’s in a Name?

In celebration of its 75th anniversary of its official establishment as Deep River, the town will commemorate the date of its name change with the beginning stages of a time capsule at Town Hall on Saturday, Sept. 17.

The time capsule event, which will be buried on Memorial Day next year, is part of the larger celebrations on Deep River Day, which will feature town-wide activities in honor of its official name change from Saybrook to Deep River on July 1, 1947.

“Saybrook was founded as a colony in 1635, and part of that colony were the communities that eventually became all of our towns such as Deep River and Essex, and Westbrook,” said Jerry Roberts, local author and historian who is part of the time capsule committee. “One by one, these towns broke off and became independent towns. The last town that did not break off was Deep River. We were the ‘Deep River region’ of Saybrook. Even Old Saybrook broke away from Saybrook.”

The town’s current name came from the offshoot river flowing into the Connecticut River. Although small in size, it served as a powerful aquatic resource to drive Colonial and manufacturing activity in the region during the Industrial Revolution, and shares a legacy with other towns of the river valley region spanning back four centuries, according to Roberts. Roberts said that the naming remains something of a word game that can be confusing, since residents of what became independent Deep River, while still technically named ’Saybrook,’ used the former name more often to refer to their place of residence. An example he gave is that of a soldier in World War I who would tell others that he was from ‘Deep River’, rather than its official name at the time.

As a result of its status as the final community of the broader Saybrook Colony, Deep River is essentially the repository of all the colonial records in the region, according to Roberts. This is the reason why the town can still claim to have been settled in 1635, even with the eventual split of the community from its namesake colony to its current municipal independence and name.

“What we are celebrating is the official acknowledgment of the name ’Deep River,’ even though has been on the maps as early as the 1650s,” said Roberts.

The town and its committee on the project are asking residents, young and old, to suggest items to be placed in the capsule tube, which will be placed alongside other items selected by town officials and collaborators on the project.

The idea for the time capsule began with the formation of a committee started earlier this year by First Selectman Angus McDonald who began tapping people including Roberts and those from the Deep River Historical Society, Town Hall, and other town residents to formulate ideas for the 75th anniversary of the name change. Among other ideas that were birthed out of the committee came one for the creation the capsule, which will be buried on Memorial Day in 2023 under the Eagle War Memorial at the Town Green, and will remain the ground for the next 100 years. It will replaced another century-old capsule that was placed under the memorial, and is to be unearth the same day.

The dedication of the new capsule to be placed below ground next year is part of the town-wide celebrations for Deep River Day. Following the anniversary parade, the time capsule will be officially announced with a speech at Town Hall at 3:40 p.m..

Suggestions for items to place in the capsule, which is to remain below ground for 100 years, will be considered over the next 12 months, with over 80 responses having already been received from VRHS students, according to Roberts.

“That’s another fun part of this. What do kids now want to let people know a hundred years from now know about our town?” said Roberts. While no criteria for content to be put in the capsule has been released by the committee other than keeping things civil, suggestions for items that have been consisted from the beginning of the project are those from the younger residents of town.

“Some of them are comical or very insightful. We’re letting kids write a note to future kids on what you want future kids to know about the town,” said Roberts. “One of the most insightful to me is one kid wrote that they want people to know how close the three towns were. We’re not really three separate towns, because all the kids from the towns go to the same high school and middle school.”

Responses from Valley Regional High School students for items also included yearbooks from the high school, John Winthrop Middle School, and Deep River Elementary School, as well as a cell phone with messages and photos saved on it, demonstrating to future generations technology of their past.

Alongside the time capsule and openness to considerations of its contents, there will be a video serving as a sort of accompaniment to the time capsule of in its own way when learning about the past. According to Roberts, the video will feature students from Valley Regional High School interviewing elder women who grew up in town about their lives as when they were of the same age. The video will be presented on Sunday, Oct. 23 during another town celebration.

The time capsule project is the kind that will present to now and future residents of Deep River and the tri-town area the strength and unity of the towns, and their collective sense of community, especially considering the youth of the area, according to Roberts.

“To me, that’s the overarching thing, is the sense of community,” he said. “I don’t think there is better source [than children] because of all us older folks have our life experiences. A lot of people don’t think of their mortality and their future when their young. But these kids, to say, ’I wonder what kids my age will be doing a hundreds from now, and what they will think of us,’ it’s cool that they have a sense of community, and that’s what’s great.”